New playlist on 8tracks: Solar Flare

I posted a new playlist on 8tracks—Solar Flare. You can listen to it over on 8tracks and the songs are listed below.

1. Oh My Love - The Score
2. Paris - Magic Man
3. Wetsuit - The Vaccines
4. Young Hearts - Strange Talk
5. The Walker - Fitz & The Tantrums
6. She Moves in Her Own Way - The Kooks
7. Love You Madly - Cake
8. Life in Color - OneRepublic
9. Wild Babe - CRUISR
10. Gold Rays - Vinyl Pinups
11. Sea Salt - Sun Culture
12. Stranger - Sunny Day Sets Fire
13. I Wanna Get Better - Bleachers
14. Canyon Moon - Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
15. Simple Song - The Shins

Original image by Julia Caesar shared under Creative Commons Zero.

New playlist on 8tracks: Sepia Summer

I posted a new playlist—Sepia Summer. You can listen to it over on 8tracks and the songs are listed below.

1. A Little Less Conversation - Elvis Presley
2. Summer of '69 - Bryan Adams
3. Danger Zone - Kenny Loggins
4. Grease - Frankie Vallie
5. Hooked on a Feeling - Blue Swede
6. A Hard Day's Night - The Beatles
7. Come Unto Me - The Mavericks
8. Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
9. Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley
10. You Are the Woman - Firefall
11. Five O'Clock World - The Vogues
12. Unchained Melody - The Righteous Brothers
13. The Longest Time - Billy Joel
14. Ordinary World - Duran Duran
15. Here Comes the Rain - The Mavericks
16. Baba O'Riley - The Who

Original image by Schub@ shared via CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Colors were modified in the version that appears here.

Constellation Prize 2

I uploaded a new music program. Nostalgia seems to be running through these songs.

Constellation Prize 2 - March 29 2012 by Digitalfare on Mixcloud

Discovering Music on Mixcloud

Two weeks ago, Alex Day wrote about the future of radio. He ended up on a site called Mixcloud where you can upload your own mixes, radio programs, and podcasts for free. Probably the best part is, Mixcloud pays royalties to artists and so you can use copyrighted songs as long as you tag and label them properly.

I've always wanted to try being on the radio, and Mixcloud is the next best thing. Better, I think, because you can play the music you want, you don't need to worry about licensing, and you don't need advertisements.

I uploaded my first program today. Eight songs with a little commentary in between tracks. For me, this is a step up from making playlists and it was fun to put together. You can listen to it below or directly on Mixcloud.

Constellation Prize 1 - March 21 2012 by Digitalfare on Mixcloud

Chameleon Circuit's Still Got Legs

Image from dftba.com

Chameleon Circuit released their second album, Still Got Legs, last week. The band makes music inspired by Doctor Who with well-written lyrics, catchy melodies, and enough variation to make distinct tracks but a cohesive album.

I've been listening to Still Got Legs for the past six days. I could write about each track, but I'd rather write about my three favorite songs on the album.

Regenerate Me sounds like the Doctor's victory song. A Gryffindor Rally Cry for the last Time Lord. My favorite part is from 1:11 to 1:28, a five-part chorus that quotes the Doctor Who soundtrack. This is the second song on the album (after a twenty-three-second instrumental track), and it serves as an introduction to the Doctor. From the lyrics:

Ten personas, I've walked the earth
Sole protector of the human race
You will know me by the big blue box
But you may never know my face

Mr. Pond is from Rory's perspective, about his concern for Amy's safety around the Doctor. My knowledge of classic Doctor Who is limited, but I think Rory and Amy are the first married couple to travel with the Doctor. We've seen companions' friends and families voice concerns about traveling with the Doctor, but never a husband. This track captures Rory's feelings perfectly.

I've loved The Doctor Is Dying since Alex Day posted an acoustic version of it on his channel. The song is about the Tenth Doctor's death. Like many of the songs on the album, the lyrics quote lines from episodes. The Tenth Doctor's emotions as he approaches his end are all here: his fear when the Time Lords return, his anguish when he realizes he has to die to save Wilfred, and his serenity when he visits past companions.

This is a sampling of the songs I like the most on Still Got Legs, but all of the songs on the album are fun to listen to (and addicting, you've been warned).

You can listen to all of Still Got Legs for free on Alex Day's website, buy the physical copy from DFTBA Records or download tracks from iTunes.

Other things of interest...a video from Chameleon Circuit about the album release and a handy graphic that shows who did what on each track.

Hearing what I can't see

I'm taking an intro to music class this semester that's basically a historical survey. We started in the Middle Ages and by the end of the semester we'll be talking about modern music. I haven't had a formal music class since 8th grade and since this is my last semester of college, I thought I should fit in one.

I'm a visual learner, so what's difficult for me about studying music is that all the things you learn about are things you hear. In a literature course, I can find passages and make connections between them. I can analyze film scenes. I can write out Spanish compositions.

I can't see music. The professor can explain where a chord change is but I still have to listen for it. We can talk about separate voices in imitative polyphony, but it's nothing I can point out.

These aren't difficult concepts, but they don't come naturally to me. I have to pay extra attention and take careful notes. It's funny how this 101 class takes more effort than my 400-level Spanish lit. But that's how it goes for me.

Music Migration

So, let go, yeah let go
Just get in
Oh, it's so amazing here
It's all right
'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown

"Let Go" by Frou Frou

If you visit music streaming sites, you may have heard about thesixtyone's re-design.  A few days ago, the designers revamped the whole site without letting users know ahead of time.  Thesixtyone is now flashier, features full-screen photos of the artists you're listening to, and roll-over menus all over the screen.  Some sites--a lot, actually--have written praise for the bold move.  TechCrunch and the Los Angeles Times have both commented on how much better thesixtyone is now and what a bold choice the designers made.  Many long-term users of thesixtyone left comments on those articles detailing what we lost in the re-design, most notably, the community features that made the site so unique in the first place.

Users e-mailed the designers to voice their concerns about the lack of features in the re-design, but the site owners aren't responding.  Meanwhile, browsing new artists and songs on thesixtyone is more difficult.  The site feeds you tracks to listen to rather than letting you hunt down your own music, as it was before.  The community features that remain are buried behind menus.  Artists can't keep in touch with their audiences and are selling less tracks since the re-design launched.  The new sixtyone may be a nice music streaming site to new users, but the creators of the site alienated the people who made thesixtyone so great in the first place.

Out of all of this, something beautiful and incredible is happening.  Thesixtyone's creators took away community features, but they can't kill the community.  Word spread around that people were moving on to another music site called uvumi.  Uvumi isn't exactly like the old version of thesixtyone, but it has a good community and independent artists who truly care about their work.  It is a social music site in the sense that artists and listeners have conversations.  All users talk to each other and discover music together.  That was the spirit of thesixtyone.  People aren't putting up with the overhaul (read: destruction) of thesixtyone, and we're gathering on uvumi.  (You can find me here.)  The site grew by 30% in the past week.  We're inviting artists to create profiles and upload their music on uvumi.  The staff have been very welcoming and wonderful in accommodating the rapid increase in site activity.

We're finding each other and sticking together, maintaining the community and enjoying our music away from thesixtyone.

Chartjackers single on Monday

Chartjackers is a project to get an internet-made single to the top of the UK music charts in time for Children in Need in December.  The effort is led by four YouTubers: Charlie, Alex, Johnny, and Jimmy.  Nine weeks ago, they started by asking viewers on YouTube to submit lyrics for a cheesy love song.  Then came the melody, vocalists, album artwork, music video, and promotion.  The guys have made YouTube videos along the way and BBC Switch has kept track of the Chartjackers with weekly TV episodes of their work. 

All that time and effort is for this Monday, November 9th, when the single "I've Got Nothing" goes for sale internationally on iTunes.  Only purchases in the UK count towards sliding the single up the music charts, but all the money from all the downloads goes directly to charity. 

This may be the first time an internet community produces a chart-topping single, and anyone in the world can get involved.  Starting this Monday, search iTunes for "I've Got Nothing" by the Chartjackers and download the song.  The money goes straight to Children and Need and your effort could help make internet and music history.

DFTBA Records knows how to use the internet

DFTBA Records is an independent music label created by Alan Lastufka and Hank Green to promote and sell music by YouTubers. All of the artists on the label have strong followings on YouTube and are talented musicians who need a way to distribute their work.

Promotions, sales, song previews, and news updates are all online for DFTBA Records. They have no need for TV spots or other traditional advertisements, and the incredible thing is that they've been really successful so far. So Jokes hit #22 on the Billboard "Hits of the Web" chart in May 2009. Chameleon Circuit sold 1,000 copies in one week. Two hundred DFTBA t-shirts sold out in less than a day.

The key to their success is how they use the internet to promote their work. The artists make YouTube videos to talk about and share their music. DFTBA Radio Hour offers commentary and plays DFTBA Records music in podcast form every Wednesday night. Alan utilizes Twitter to give updates on albums and projects. There's a wiki. There's a street team. There are competitions. There's a blog. DFTBA Records is all over the web in text, video, and audio formats to reach and interact with its audience.

I don't watch much TV anymore, I don't read magazines often, and I rarely listen to the radio. The best way to get my attention is on the internet, and I bet that's the same for a lot of teens and young adults out there. DFTBA Records has a solid grip on how to stay in touch with fans and sell music online. That's more than can be said of music labels that depend solely on a company site and iTunes for an internet presence.

YouTube Binge

Also known as one of the reasons I haven't written a blog entry in two weeks despite having ideas for roughly 8 posts.

Every now and then, I go on a video binge and watch every video on an entire channel over the span of a few days (or sometimes all in one day). The first time this happened, I came across ItsJustSomeRandomGuy. He has a running series about Marvel and DC super heroes and villains using action figures, mini sets, and props, and he and his girlfriend voice all of the characters. RandomGuy voices Peter Parker and Joker particularly well, and he sings as the Green Goblin. I found his channel with 40 videos uploaded and watched them all in the span of two nights. Lots of time on YouTube, but well spent.

Then some time this past spring, I followed a suggestion to watch a Doctor Who-related video and ended up watching everything on littleradge's channel. He's funny, he's thoughtful, and he's a Doctor Who fan. What more can I ask for?

Earlier this week I was looking for clips from Blink, a Doctor Who episode from season 3, and found this awesome fan-made song which was posted as a response to Trock and I had no idea what that was, so of course I clicked. Turns out Trock is "Time Lord Rock," the equivalent of Wrock--"Wizard Rock," as in original fan-made music about the Harry Potter series. (Check out the Ministry of Magic for excellent examples.) So Trock is that but for Doctor Who and the term was coined by nerimon on YouTube. I've now watched about 70 of nerimon's videos over the course of 3 days...He and littleradge comment on everyday topics like movies, education, annoyances, and technology just to name a few.

Nerimon leads to charlieissocoollike and fiveawesomeguys which connect to fiveawesomegirls, but I don't have time to delve into all those videos. Maybe I will, though, since television doesn't offer much to look forward to anymore. I'm currently following two shows, but I'm more excited about Trock and new videos in my YouTube subscriptions.

Dr. Horrible's Soundtrack

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along blog was a huge hit in July, and several sites are still talking about it. The soundtrack was released today on iTunes. It has 14 songs, including the 10-second instrumental bit at the beginning of each act and the ending credits. You can see the liner notes and lyrics at drhorrible.com.

"Bad Horse Chorus" is catchy, "My Eyes" is bittersweet, and "Slipping" is menacing. The lyrics are clever, and the music will get stuck in your head.

I've had the songs repeating in my mind all week, and that's before the soundtrack and without re-watching Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. It's Horribly delightful.

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